The Darkness Approaches
by odrake
Summary: The Darkness approaches the Doctor and his friends. When he meets Ainsley on a bus, her life is changed for the better..or is it for the worse? What is the Darkness and why does it pursue two humans and a Timelord? R&R please.
1. 1 Ainsley Likes Yellow, huh

The bus was big and crowded. There were many people crowding it, half of them stood and half of them were sat upon the hard bus seats. A man in a tweed jacket, braces and a bow tie arrived on the bus, some turned to stare but most continued to listen to their ipods, talk on their phones or argue with someone else upon the bus. A young girl was raging at a middle-aged man who had sat in her seat when she'd dropped her batteries that she was trying to shove the wrong way round into a torch. The girl's long dark hair fell down the back of her yellow blouse.

"Gerrof her seat," the man in tweed came to stand beside the girl with the yellow blouse and skinny blue jeans. The girl turned and raised a thin eyebrow at the man who had suddenly taken up the argument in her place.

"Ach- she wis off it! She doesny own it!" The man with thinning black hair snapped and glared at the man.

"C'mon! Off. It is, if she was sat there first, you should be dead nice and-" The man froze, his nose twitched and he looked the man up and down. The older of the men grumbled something and stood up and walked as far away as he could from the girl and the odd man in the bow-tie. The girl looked up, her blue eyes were staring into the man's hazel ones. "The Doctor," The man smiled and held out a pasty hand.

"Doctor who?" The girl questioned as she took his hand warily. "Thanks, for that, by the way."

She slid into the window seat of the bus and The Doctor slipped in beside her.

"Just...the Doctor." The man replied and ran his fingers through his hair. "...Can you smell that smell?"

The girl just stared at the Doctor as if he were mad, madder than most anybody whom she'd met on the crazy buses of Edinburgh.

"What...smell?" The girl's eyebrow raised once more. "Ainsley Rose Marley's the name. Meeting stranger people on the bus is apparently a normal day-to-day thing for me though-"

The Doctor stopped her suddenly raising his finger to his lips. And shushed her;

"Who...else did you meet on the bus?" His hazel eyes were glazed with worry and he suddenly snapped his head around looking around the horrible, dirty bus. "And...great googlimoogly-"

"What?"

"It's from that T.V show...Maggie and the Ferocious Beast." The Doctor, smiled, his jawline was very square though his other features were soft and handsome. "Can you feel someone watching us?"

"Yeah- but it's a rough neighbourhood..." Ainsley stared out of the window at the dark streets were figures were moving around. "My stop, Doctor- lovely meeting you, must dash."

She stood up and squeezed past the Doctor and made her way towards the front of the bus were the old man from before stood. She looked up at him, the man's eyes were terrifying they had a vacant look in them. Suddenly Ainsley felt someone behind her and as the bus turned a sharp corner she tumbled into the person.

"Hello again, Ainsley Rose Marley!" The Doctor grinned his teeth flashed at her. "My stop too," and then under his breath so only Ainsley could hear "_I think it's Mr. Wrinkles stop as well._"

Ainsley looked up at him and she felt heat rise to her cheeks in embarrassment. The bus doors opened.


	2. 2 You Also Live in a Box

_The bus doors opened_.. The Doctor's arm grazed by Ainsley's own as they stumbled out of the bus, trying to get out at the same time. The Doctor looked up, it was a very cloudy night- not very good. Horrible, in fact.

"Bah." The Doctor shook his head disappointedly. "This is bonkers (!). There's a new word right there! Bonkers...bonk-eeers."

Ainsley stared up at the man, he was only a few inches taller, with a confused look spread across her face. _'What have I got myself into?' _She thought to herself despairingly. The Doctor suddenly stopped and grabbed Ainsley Rose's shoulder to halt her as well and he once more pressed a finger to his lips for silence. There was no noise and Ainsley shrugged his hand off and started to walk again when she heard footsteps that weren't the Doctor's as he was now at her side. He ran his fingers through his untidy brown hair and grinned, Ainsley stared incredulously at the man and shook her head in disbelief. She turned her around slightly to see the man with thinning hair walking with another few old men following them.

"Do not turn around, Doctor," Ainsley murmured into his ears, and looked down at her in surprise and then flicked his head around. "I said _don't_!"

The Doctor turned back at Ainsley Rose and smiled a crazy smile; "Yeah- the thing is...these guys are aliens and they're wanting to kill you for some odd reason and I can't get a proper rationable feed from them-" He paused and looked down at Ainsley who was actually just staring at the Doctor as if he were some mad-man and yet she wasn't screaming and running away. Yet. That was a good sign as far as the Doctor was concerned. "Do you remember when the Earth moved in the universe?"

Ainsley paused, pondering about it, and then replied if a little hesitantly, "Those...Dalek-things? Yep...they were so-"

"Horrible."

"I was going to say beautiful." Ainsley blushed a deep rose-y colour and twiddled her thumbs, subconsciously she turned around and saw the men (or aliens) had closed the gap between them further. "They're catching up..."

The Doctor glanced back into the darkness and saw the figures approaching. He grabbed Ainsley's arm and started to run and they ran he tried to carry on their previous conversation;

"The Daleks were aliens- like these guys and they destroyed my-" He quickly tried to cover up his mistake by ducking into a nearby alleyway and he looked up smiling to see Ainsley Rose frowning deeply, her pale forehead had darkened and seemed to be very golden all of a sudden.

"If we'd kept running we could have been at my friend's house by now!" She exclaimed and crouched down beside the Doctor as the aliens passed by holding up what looked like some sort of ray guns. "Just _fantastic. _This is your fault, Doctor."

The Doctor looked over at her as they crouched behind a few bins, and his big hazel eyes became very puppy-dog like and Ainsley smiled slightly. The Doctor held out his hand once more and they shook, again. Ainsley Rose felt his big hands interwine with her own slim fingers. She tucked a straying piece of brown hair behind her ear and fixed her sweeping fringe that was falling into her eyes. The Doctor pulled out something from his tweed pocket, a long pen-like machine with a green diode at the tip and he pointed it at the darkness where the aliens had marched by. He pressed a button and a soft buzzing noise emitted from it.

The Doctor snapped his finger and faced Ainsley who was still twiddling strands of hair between her fingers. "Aha! I _knew_ it, Veil! The jump into human bodies...really they could have picked someone with a little more pizazz, but oh well- these guys have nothing against Earth as far I can see it." There was a long paused before the Doctor started up again; "OH. Oh...ah. Bad news, Ley, but they're after you- indivuadly for some thing."

"Doctor-"

"Lemme see what I can do..." The Doctor ignored Ainsley as she tried to interupt him again, he was fiddling his the Sonic Screwdriver.

"Doctor!" Ainsley yelled and finally got his attention. "There's some kind of noise coming from the back of the alley...and if Brooke thinks I got mugged again, GOD she'll kill me." She noticed the Doctor was ignoring her and staring past her, at something behind her.

"TARDIS. My TARDIS." the Doctor seemed to sigh in relief and he got shakily to his feet and stared at the blue police that was starting to matierelise, he put a hand out while still staring at the box. Ainsley took it gratefully and helped herself up.

"Doctor...that doesn't make sense." Ainsley shook her head disbelievingly and stood beside him in the dark alleyway.

"Let's go inside then, Ley!"

"Why?"

"It's my _home_ and plus we need to save your friend...argh fiddlesticks! Brooke! That's her name; Brooke."

"Why does she need saving, Doctor?" Ainsley's brown furrowed but the doctor ignored her once more and grabbed her arm leading her towards the great blue box. "You live...in a box."

"You do too!" The Doctor retorted, amusement flashed in his eyes. "You live in a box with a pointy top, much like an opposite way round ice-cream, daft if I say so myself."

Ainsley flashed a grin at him. "We're going in, yeah?"

The Doctor opened the doors and whispered to her, "Yeah..."


	3. 3 I Did Tell You

Ainsley Rose stepped in behind the Doctor then gasped, and jumped back. Then peered her head around the corner again. There were five large coral pillars that looked like support, there were 'half-bubbles' over the walls and in the centre was some sort of control panel with a giant tube glowing a blue-green stood out from it, she took a deep breath and walked in again. Also, it was much bigger than a metre wide Police Box.

Ainsley said, quite loudly and in a matter-of-fact voice, "It's bigger...on the inside."

"Yes, yes _she_ is, Ainsley Rose."

"She? She's...alien?" Ainsley looked shocked and looked around in shock at everything and took in a deep breathe and laughed, in a sort of odd way. She had always gotten bullied for that laugh, sort of like somebody coughing.

"Yes," The Doctor pressed a few buttons and grinned, his white teeth glowed a faint blue in the light. "She's my TARDIS you know," the Doctor sighed and pressed a button behind him down without looking.

"TARDIS? Oh my- are you an alien?"

There was a silence as the Doctor nodded, and there was a loud crash from the hallway at the back of the 'TARDIS', and a young man in his boxers appeared at the other side of the control panel with a frying pan in his hand. He had shoulder-length shaggy brown hair and blue eyes, he was quite pale and gangly.

"Doctor, Jack just call..." The boy's Scottish voice trailed off and stared at Ainsley Rose for a few seconds before ducking towards the control panel covering himself from Ainsley. "Who? Is? That?"

The Doctor laughed and noticed the look on Ainsley's face as she watching the cowering boy behind the panel, Ainsley blushed a furious red and frowned deeply.

"That, Adrian, is Ainsley Rose and she's gonna help us...waaait one momento- get some clothes on and we'll talk about this in a second," The Doctor threw his head back and ran over to the control panel, flicking switches, pulling levers all as Adrian ran back into the corridor and Ainsley stood just outside of the door. She had still not said a word, or moved a muscel. The Doctor was about to press the last button when he looked up and saw the door open.

"Ainsley, do me a favour and shut that door," he smiled and Ainsley blinked a few times.

"You don't...look like an alien?" It was more of a question than a statement.

"Yes, well- I'm hardly going to go around looking like a Grassk, Jilpio or Traintinu from the Fifth Division of Sprak!" The Doctor chuckled at his...'joke' and looked expectantly at Ainsley who stared at him before replying;

"Like...those guys?" Ainsley frowned and edged back slightly, almost unnoticably.

"I have no reason to be believe that they were actually going to attack a human on a Level Five unadapted planet that in retrospect shouldn't even be allowed...nevermind retrospect, scientificly the gravity flow shouldn't allow them to be here since the Shadow Procclamation banned the Vie-" The Doctor tilted his head and sighed, "well...we're about to run, so I suggest closing that door or...dieing? I'm not really sure what happens when you fall into the Vortex, I'll need to check that out-"

The Doctor was interupted when a a voice echoed along the hallway and into the large controll room,

"Doctor! Jack's on the phone!"

"Tell him I'm busy!"

There was a loud silence, and then some muttering down the hall and then silence again.

"He said it's urgent!"

The Doctor groaned and pushed passed Ainsley who was gaping at him again with a wide open mouth and he slammed the two doors inwards. He proceeded to walk over to the panel and push a large silver button and the whole room jerked and Ainsley shrieked, the Doctor laughed and grasped for a good hold of the middle of the room, and Ainsley was flung against a wall. She grabbed the corner and her fingers closed around the the bumpy wall as she was flung about. It stopped moving and Ainsley ran over to the Doctor and he grinned down at her, she raised her hand and was about to slap him when someone else grabbed her hand, stopping it. She flicked her head around to see Adrian holding her arm back and she struggled to get free.

"Lemme go!" She yelped.

"Not until you stop trying to hit the Doctor, love," the brown-haired boy smirked and Ainsley relaxed her and Adrian let go of it.

"Just lemme go home," Ainsley murmured and started to move towards the doors, ignoring Adrian's hand as it tried to pull her shoulder back.

"No, I don't think you should go through there-" The Doctor's warning was useless as Ainsley pulled the doors open and saw the Vortex swirl below and all around her. It was filled with blues, reds, purples and whites, all endlessly whirling and twirling below the blue cuboid.

"Told you so."


	4. 4 Slept With an Alien

_"Told you so."_ There was long, deep silence as Ainsley shielded her eyes from the glare and stumbled back into somebodies arms, she lent against them and kicked the door closed with her legs and the lights disappeared. The person behind her slowly helped her back to her feet. She turned around and saw the Doctor, who was taking out his Sonic and buzzing it around the area of Ainsley. She raised a curious eyebrow, and pouted as the diode flickered.

"What- was _that_, Doctor? Where are we?" The Doctor ignored the questions and carried on scanning.

"Oh, Ley...this is bad. This is ver-eey bad. You don't want to know how bad this is, Ley-"

"Tell me...I think I'm ready to handle anything now, sugar," Ainsley sighed and gave a wary glance back at the blue doors.

She heard Adrian laugh loudly and looked over to see him talking on his phone to somebody, the Doctor rolled his eyes and pointed the Screwdriver at him, there was a fizzing and a flash of yellow light and Adrian turned and glared at the Doctor who grinned manicly at him. Adrian ran his fingers through his raggedy hair and stormed off through the corridor.

"Right, yes...where were we?" The Doctor spun around on the spot causing his tweed jacket to flail about slightly, "Oh, yeah- there is some sort of fluxuation clinging to the atmosphere around your mass, which is causing something that not even Nerobicouliars could pick up, the perception is definetly not caused by a Perception Filter as such as it could easily be overriden by my Sonic Screwdriver, so this Perception Filter must be more than a Perception Filter- hey, Ley?" The Doctor looked down at her slightly, and she raised a thin brown eyebrow.

"What?"

"Have you ever came into contact with any Maunaim rock?"

"Wait- what's Muman rock?"

"Not 'Muman', _Maunaim. _It just looks like a normal rock sometimes in latches onto people...or things- happened to the meteor that crashed into Earth when the Dinosaurs were about- Maunaim is obsessed with destroying planets and when it sees a worthy picker-upper it hitches a ride-"

"Like...when you want to punch someone and you know you shouldn't?" Ainsley smiled, slyly and quite proud with her idea and the Doctor chuckled back;

"Heh. Like that but they think they're allowed to do whatever they like..." There was a short silence, and suddenly the Doctor cried out in what he would call stupidity, "Bio-Damp! It's protecting you, and that must mean that the Viel aren't after you but they're after the Maunaim, ha! Brilliant plan, bet they weren't expecting me to be here- good thing I was actually."

Ainsley rolled her eyes and replied, "So...you're saying that somewhere on me, or in me, there's this thing that wants to destroy earth?" The Doctor nodded solemnly, "I feel loved," she concluded.

"Well- we just need to find this Bio Damp, or if its not a Bio-Damp then it must be a Gedrux, either way, we need to find it. Anything you wear everyday? A certain pair of-" The Doctor looked down at her suspiciously but he was interupted by a snappy retort from Ainsley,

"Shud'up!" Ainsley Rose exclaimed and blushed a deep red, "I always wear this bracelet, my Gran gave me it...before she died. I haven't taken it off since," Ainsley traced a pale finger over the buttons and keys on the control panel. "What...what does this thing even do?"

The Doctor looked around in surprise, "My TARDIS?" He grinned, "T.A.R.D.I.S. Time and Relitive Dimesions in Space, fantastico."

"Time...?"

There was another crash in the hallway, and there was the faint call of 'sorry!' echoing away. Ainsley dragged her gaze off of the Doctor and looked around the 'TARDIS' and muttered to herself. The Doctor was staring a the thin, teal-coloured beads on her wrist. He quickly reached out and grabbed her hand and lifted the bracelet to his face, and whispered quietly to it,

"Hello there, are you going to come out?" There was a faint 'burrrrr' emanating from it, "No...come on!" The Doctor snapped at the bracelet and Ainsley gave him a worried look as he yanked her arm and the bracelet snapped. "Ainsley? Ley? Ainsley Rose, are you okay?"

The look of horror and fear on Ainsley's face was very clear as the small teal-shaded beads tumbled across the floor, then disappearing underneath through meshed floor. In the place where the last bead had fallen now lay a misshapen rock, the Doctor beamed at Ainsley before typing something with one hand onto the typewriter on the panel beside him, and what looked like a reflection of water in the form of a cylinder shot down from the domed ceiling and surrounded the oddly-shaped rock. _Thats huge...how'd it fit in my b-braclet?_ she frowned and stared at it.

"Doctaah..." a faint voice buzzed around the TARDIS, and it sent a shiver up Ainsley Rose's spine. "Doctaaah...the Darkness..sss...the _Darknesss...sss_' The voice faded and the Doctor was already crouched beside the large rock inside the cylinder, Ainsley crouched beside him as well and they both sat staring at the piece of Maunaim on the floor. He took out his Sonic and buzzed at it for a few moment before sliding it back into his tweed jacket again.

The Doctor shimied around to face Ainsley, on his knees, and looked her in the eyes, "It's dead," he murmured.

They were both silent for a while until Ainsley stood up from where she was crouched and finally let out a question she had been wanting to ask for a while;

"What's the..._Darkness_?"

The Doctor slowly stood up and pressed a button on the type-writer, and the cylinder disappeared, evaporated into nothing and he stared into the giant tube running from the top to bottom of the TARDIS and he sighed and shook his head in disbelief.

"You...don't know do you, Doctor?"

"No," he replied, not looking at her.

"Well...is there someone who will know?"

"There is but I'm not having a single word with that twat, not after last time with Abe Lincoln and the time before that with the Malmooth- he _slept_ with the Princess, there's no way they will ever let me ba-"

Ainsley interupted him with a shocked but amused smile, "Your friend slept with an alien?"

The Doctor frowned and shook his head, "He's _not_ my friend."

There was more clattering around back through the hallway and Ainsley glanced over to see Adrian appear once more with an ancient phone in his hand grinning with a crazed look in his eye, "Oh, Doctor, he _really_ wants to say hello."


	5. 5 Hello, Captain

**Beware of how tired I am- it affects my writing skills. As I stated in my profile, I am currently working on an English project and my story is named 'Sugar and Torture'. So I stayed up super late just for you lot, *loved*, and can anybudy guess who might be phoning the Doctor? Well...it's- *River Song pops up and shakes her finger* "Ah, ah, ah- _spoilers_. They'll have to read it..." OK then, off we trot;**

The Doctor groaned and held out a hand for the cream coloured telephone, it had the twirling dial and coiled wire leading up to the banana shaped top, where the speaker and 'microphone' were. Adrian happily walked over to the Doctor and handed him it, the Doctor greeted the person on the other line with a groan of 'hullo'.

The man on the other end was surprisingly loud and Ainsley could hear everyword, "Hello, Doctor! You've been avoiding me!"

If it were possible you could almost hear the man's smile and Adrian was tapping away on the glass part of the control panel.

Ainsley snickered at the American voice mock-accusing the Doctor. He retorted back into it whilst gesturing for Ainsley to hold the dial half of the telephone, "I can't think why, Ca'ppin."

"So, are you going to visit?" The 'Ca'ppin''s voice perked up slightly, and the Doctor rolled his eyes;

"_'Course, Jack._" The Doctor rolled his eyes and flashed a toothy grin at Ainsley who was beaming right back, and Adrian was looking longing at the TARDIS doors.

"So- now..?" There was a long pause as the Doctor looked down at his feet and shifted on them nervously, and glanced around the room as if avoiding the answer which was bound to follow the words that Jack next uttered, "..please? It's important, it's weird. We need you, Cat said it was something to do with the fading of the timeline boundaries but I said it was a simple mix-up but then Nathan, newest recruit, said it could have something do to with the other you-"

Ainsley's mouth dropped open and swiftly interupted Jack with a look of shock, "_Other_ you?"

There was a chuckle from the other end of the line as Jack replied, "New friend? She doesn't know much about you at all, Doctor, does she? Adrian on the other hand...well I'd love to see _him_ again."

Adrian blushed a deep red and twiddled his thumbs nervously and the Doctor frowned into the phone and hung up, turning around to face both of his companions,

"First we're saving that girl. That girl who's in dangers, your friend. Then...we're going to pay someone a visit. We're going to see what the Captain's done to history this time."

_Sometimes I get tired when writing, I apologise for the short chapter._

**_DISCLAIMER._**


	6. 6 I'm Off to Save the Universe

The Doctor typed something into the typewriter and pushed a button, he gestured for Adrian to do something similar and he yanked down on a green coloured lever, knowing what was next Ainsley placed the phone-dial on the panel and grasped onto the side as the TARDIS began to shake around. Adrian was beaming and laughing manically as he placed a hand onto a massive blue button. Ainsley's fear from the last time faded away and was replaced with adrenalin and excitement. The Doctor grinned at his two companions as the TARDIS flung them from side to side. There was a noise like breathing, or rough metal edges rubbing together, and it slowed. Ainsley let go of the side and what she called 'casually' walked over to the Doctor, her white teeth glinting blue in the low light.

"Brooke." The Doctor sighed as he strode towards the door, Ainsley quickly followed.

"What about those...those things?" Ainsley questioned, her voice in a slight panicked way, "Well..are they gonna be there?"

"Oh, Ainsley.." The Doctor turned his head around and gestured for Adrian to follow, "haven't you guessed yet?"

He swung open the doors and stepped out, "Nothings ever certain with -"

The Doctor was cut off short and the sound of clicking guns, tried to signal Ainsley to stop but it was too late and she carried on walking straight into the semi-circle of Veil, seven of them in total. One of them was holding a gun to a slightly over-weight, curly black-haired girl who was shaking with fear.

"Veil," the old men exchanged confused glances at each other, "Oh...I _like_ that. You haven't met the Doctor yet, have you? Oh ho! This could be fun, boys. This could be fun."

The one who had been arguing with Ainsley on the bus cocked his gun again and told them to raise their hands, which they did...willingly.

"The Maunaim, it is gone. Troops, disparce." The old man ordered in a very different voice to the one he had used before.

The Veil holding Brooke hostage let go of her and she stumbled across to Ainsley with an angry look on her face. The other Veil put the guns to their sides. The Doctor beamed at them, and twitched his head signaling for Adrian to come out of the TARDIS. He did so with an look of boredom on his face.

"You were united in forces with the Maunaim?" An old man with a 'nest' of grey hair barked and a long-snake-like tongue appeared from his mouth making Brooke squeal in disgust and Ainsley turn her head away.

"Us? No, why? You'd usually be watching from above, watching the planet die...you know from the stars. _And _I heard Androvax brought you back?" There were mutal grunts of agreement from the surrounding Veil and the Doctor continued, "Why did you chase the Maunaim? You were in violation of numerous laws, I'm surprised the Judoon aren't here all ready, Veil."

The 'nested' one retorted, his tongue flickering again, "My name is Fargan and we chased the Maunaim because it was hiding from something. Something cold, we felt it. The other world's suns and stars...flickering on and off, on and off. It frightened the Primeminster-"

"They have a Primeminister?" Ainsley burst out, unable to contain herself.

The Veil gave her angered looks and Fargan continued with an annoyed flick of his head in their direction,

"It frighten her, so we were sent to see what the Maunaim knew-"

"You were going to kill it, Fargan...killing is what cowards do. The Veil are a strong and mighty race, why would you chase it?" The Doctor questioned and lowered his hands slowly and fixed his bowtie. "Why?"

"The Darkness, Doctor. The Darkness," The bus-Veil hissed. "We are many, the Darkness is one...we are mere infants! Juveniles!"

Before they could say more they all pressed their hands together and clapped, causing a thunder-like noise to erupt from the room and when they all look again, they were gone. No trace that they had even been near, not a single footprint or loose hair.

"Ainsley Rose Marley!" Brooke stepped away from her backwards, "What the fucking _hell_ was that?"

"Those...well- you heard the Doctor...those were Veil. Now, Brooke, if you don't mind I'm off to save the Universe. Is that quite alright with you?" Ainsley took a deep breathe and glanced at the Doctor who nodded reassuringly and blinked.

Arian had already went back inside the TARDIS, and the Doctor was following but Ainsley lingered in the doorway and added with a smirk and a wink at her friend,

"I'm going to meet aliens, the Captain, possibly my own great-great Grandmother and I'll be back for tea. Don't wait up."

**Another short one, sorry! D:**


	7. 7 The Actress and the Avis PRT1

**ALAS I HAVE RETURNED! Sorry for the inconvience, writer's block on this story . I actually re-wrote this chapter, completely different plot and everything. Have you heard of the actress (Alice) Ellen (Nelly) Terry? I've just read a biography on her and I had to add her to my story!**

**#Q- What do you think of Ainsley and Adrian so far? (:**

* * *

The Doctor was standing waiting for her to come back and close the doors as Ainsley walked in with an awkward look about her.

"Is that okay, Doctor?"

He gave her a confused look as he leaned against the control panel, "Is what?"

"Me...me coming with you?"

"Of course, why wouldn't it be? Did I give the impression that I wouldn't love you to come...well, maybe not _love_ but I'd certainly _like_ you to come along. Adrian will warm up to you, you'll see Ainsley! There's just so much to see out there, you should come and see...you, me and Adrian- wouldn't that be brilliant?" The Doctor rambled on, running his fingers through his volumious hair.

Ainsley beamed and ran over, and grasped the Doctor in a hug. He stood for a moment in a rare state of shock with his hands to his side, not sure what to do but eventually he awkwardly placed his arms around her. She let go and breathed out, looking around the TARDIS.

"Should I get some clothes?" She smirked.

"I think that'd be a good idea, sugar," Adrian came out through the hallway once more and threw a bag at her, which she just caught before it fell to the ground.

Ainsley made her way towards the TARDIS doors. She stepped out of and ran through to her small bedroom in the two-bedroomed appartment, passing a still slightly dazed Brook. She made her way to her drawers and rummaged through them, pulling out underwear, jeans, shorts, tops, shirts and all sorts. She had put them all into Adrian's bag, and when she thought it was going to be full up, it seemed to make more room. She wandered over to the built-in wardrobe and slid open the mirror doors, looking around inside she saw a few dresses which were worn at the very least once. She took two of them, folding them both carefully and placing them into the bag. She then grabbed a few pairs of shoes from the bottom of the wardrobe, closed it and walked past Brook who actually registered her this time and reached out, grabbing her wrist.

"Don't go, Ainsley," her big, green eyes were pleading.

"Have to, I'm sorry- but this is a once in a lifetime chance," she tried to shake Brook hand off of her wrist but failed. "Let. Me. Go."

"I can't, I told him I'd keep you here," Brook's eyes glazed over for a few seconds and Ainsley frowned, and winced in slight pain as Brook's grip tightened.

"Who? Told who _what_?"

When she didn't get an answer, she grabbed Brook's own wrist and pulled her hand off and walked towards the TARDIS, slamming the doors shut. Brook, collasped onto the floor knees first as the TARDIS faded out of sight and a small tear trickled down her round cheek.

"Did you let her go?" a dark, almost metallic voice asked from the corner of the room where the shadows lurked.

"I..I-I couldn't," Brook whimpered and glanced back at the corner, "D-don't hur-t-t me, p-p-please..."

Tears were now running freely down Brook's face as the shadows formed a river of darkness and the light above her head flickered on and off, on and off before dying out. The only noise through the usually loud, rowdy neighbourhood was the single scream of Brook Tyrant as the river of darkness drowned her...

* * *

The TARDIS lurched to a halt and Adrian grinned, the first proper smile Ainsley had seen from him, and strode over to the doors with confidence and swung them open, only to close them with great speed as he turned back and shook his head at the Doctor warningly,

"Don't."

"But.."

"Doctor," Adrian retorted sternly at him.

"But..!"

"I said _don't!" _Adrian snapped, but- it was too late.

The Doctor had already ran towards the doors and opened them up and grinned at his surroundings. There were people moving around the crowded streets, dressed in Victorian attire. Their pompous clothing and some with wigs. He had always loved the old Queen Vic era, besides the fact he'd been literally banned from ever returning...it hadn't stopped him before.

Ainsley wandered out after Adrian who frowned darkly at the tall, grey buildings with the small decorative markings engraved upon the stone gargoyles.

"Wow," Ainsley whispered out, amazed at everyone who was stepping around them, giving them odd looks. "We're...in London?"

The Doctor spun around on his feet and beamed at Ainsley, "Yes, yes we are! I knew you'd love it, everyone does."

Adrian was growling around the place, he had always hated the old-fashioned places the Doctor took him too. Ainsley was grinning and looking around at everything.

"So what time is this?" she asked with a smile at the Doctor who was squinting around the throng of people.

"Uh...I'd say roughly 1840, 1842...Victorian era and we're outside the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane," the Doctor replied, and started to walk through the crowds towards the theater, he sniffed at the air- pausing for a moment, "actually...1867."

Ainsley followed, careful not to bump into any of the upper class Victorian women and men rushing around and giving her disghusted looks. She held back what she wanted to yell in their faces and moved swiftly onwards. The Doctor reached the doors and wandered through, there was nobody standing in the way to stop him from walking in.

Adrian, turning, to just see the last of Ainsley's yellow blouse disappear from sight into the theater behind the Doctor followed in pursuit. Dodging through them all.

"Adrian?" he heard a young voice call out and he tilted his head around to see a young woman, she was drapped in a light blue dress and had spilling golden curly hair which fell down her back like a river. "Adrian is that you?"

Adrian's sullen face burst into a field of delight, he looked at her again and smiled softly, and held out for his arm.

"Alice."

"It's Ellen now," she blushed a pale rose colour and, stood on her tiptoes, kissed his cheek. "I have missed you greatly, you have not even aged a day. Where is the Doctor...you said if something was wrong he'd be here-"

Adrian's frown returned as his eyebrows furrowed, "What's wrong? I said something that was wrong in the way it shouldn't be here, sugar. Not your family problems-"

"Oh, but it is wrong...The birds, the birds that come from the country at night. They take the children, Adrian. They take the children."


End file.
